The last movie theater in Kailua closed on Sunday, tired and worn, unable to compete with the fancy megaplexes and their plush stadium seating.

Keolu Center Cinemas in Enchanted Lake was once the shiny new theater in a town that used to have lots of them: Kailua Drive-In, Aikahi Theaters, Kailua Theaters, Enchanted Lake Cinemas.

But on Sunday afternoon, the walls were stripped of their posters, the cardboard movie displays and video games gone, the concession stand — a better source of income than the $1 ticket price — nearly out of inventory. The crowd that nearly filled the theater to see the 4 p.m. showing of “Fool’s Gold” — well worth $1 — left quietly as a young theater worker, now out of a job, watched them go from a seat in the lobby.

For those who love both Kailua and going to a real movie theater, it was a little sad to see. For nearly a generation, it was possible to see a movie without leaving Kailua (and even then, you could glimpse of the latest releases up on the giant Kailua Drive-In screen, glowing in the dark as you drove past on Kalanianaole Highway).

Now Kailuans must drive as far away as Kaneohe (with its big-city ways) or heaven forbid, over the Pali, just to see a movie as it should be seen, on a big screen in a dark theater, with expensive popcorn and too many previews.

As Kailua continues to develop, with a new Whole Foods going up next to the new Pier One, which sits in front of the new Long’s and its new parking structure, the question will surely arise again: Wouldn’t a new theater — a fancy megaplex, with plush stadium seating — fit right in?

For those who want to keep Kailua a quiet residential community — without a lot of outsiders driving in to see a movie — the answer isn’t necessarily yes.